All in the name
by Kouralia
Summary: Charles bites off more than he can chew by following Haytham over the rooftops. They come to an extra high, wide gap, and Charles Lee realizes he can't go any farther.His legs seem to be rooted to the spot. As if it could get any worse, Haytham is staring, expecting Charles to follow easily. What can he do when he can't do anything? slight hints of Charles/Haytham


Charles tried to control his breathing. He desperately didn't want master Kenway to see how hard it was for him to keep up as they ran over the rooftops. As it was, he could barely keep up with the much more athletic man ahead of him. It really wasn't fair at all, Charles internally complained. He wasn't exactly a slouch either, and could definitely keep up in a fight or sprint through the streets. It was just almost inhuman how master Kenway flew over the angled roof tops and chimneys over the streets.

Still, Charles was determined. He knew he stood little chance to impress the unbelievably talented Haytham Kenway, but he'd be damned if he disappointed the man with his meager-by-comparison skills. Charles hoped that he could soon be satisfactory enough to join master Kenway's order. He knew about the Templars of course, and was an ally to them, but so far he hadn't been able to officially sign up. Of course, he hadn't been quite so eager, before. It was really the appearance of Kenway that convinced him to commit himself. One would be hard pressed to see the man and not immediately wish to be by his side. Beyond his impressive talents and skills, master Kenway was a sight to behold.

Charles nearly bumped into the man of his thoughts before stumbling to a stop. He bit the inside of his cheek sharply to stop himself from flushing in embarrassment while recovering, then glanced up inquisitively. Master Kenway had halted on the edge of a roof, overlooking a busy market square, surrounded by several taller buildings and a church.

Charles wanted to ask what they were doing, but resisted. Master Kenway always had a reason for things, and always knew what he was doing. It was always a smart reason too, one that most men would overlook. So instead he waited, trusting that he would soon be told what he needed to know.

The reward for patience came not a moment later, as master Kenway began to speak. "Our target is inside that church. As you know, he is somewhat prepared. There are guard patrols along the perimeter, and a few on the roofs. He's turned away the civilian church goers and made that building his hideout, otherwise I would have just blended in with the crowds on Sunday and hunted him down that way."

He turned around to Charles, most likely to confirm that he was being listened to. Charles did his best to reflect his attentiveness, meeting master Kenway's eyes dead on. He almost wished he hadn't, as he was suddenly struck by that intense gaze. It was only enhanced by his face which Charles couldn't deny was quite attractive, putting it lightly. Charles caught a tiny flash of a knowing grin before master Kenway opened his mouth again.

"As it is, we have two methods of infiltration. The easiest would be to come in from the top. We can force our way through one of the windows at the top. There will be scaffolding on the inside for the workers to reach the windows for cleaning. It's far enough from where our target will no doubt be hiding that the sound of breaking glass shouldn't alert anyone."

"The only issue, however," Master Kenway stopped to gesture at the church's smooth walls, devoid of lower windows, ridges, or ledges of any kind. "He's gone and selected a building that can not be scaled, even by myself. We'd have to climb up that building to the left, and jump across to that lower spire, and from that point up there shouldn't be too much of an issue." Charles looked to the mentioned building, and nearly paled. That was a large gap to jump across, and quite high up as well. Not to mention, one would be jumping not onto a flat surface, but a skinny little spire.

"What of the other method, sir?" Charles asked carefully, making sure he did not sound intimidated by the first idea at all.

"The second plan would be to dispose of the guards one by one, until there are few enough to sneak by. We can't allow ourselves to be detected, or our target will slip away. I've already sent some men to block the underground entrance, but there are multiple street entrances that I can't watch. There's a reason he chose this church, after all. This plan would be a tad more risky, but I'm aware the first route has a certain degree of athletic challenge to it."

They stood there silently for several seconds, before Charles realized suddenly that he was meant to respond. Master Kenway looked at him with something comparable to both concern and challenge. Charles gulped, knowing what he would have to do. It wasn't even a question. "As always master Kenway, I will follow you in whatever plan you decide is most advantageous."

"That is good to hear, Charles." Master Kenway allowed a rare genuine smile, and Charles failed to stop his mouth from opening slightly at the sight. He scolded himself, knowing how incredibly ridiculous it was to be nearly acting like a little girl with a first crush. Charles silently dared any human attracted to the male gender to do any better in the same situation.

"Well, let us be on our way, then." master Kenway fell into thin air, nearly giving Charles a heart attack until he heard the soft thump of a body hitting hay. As much as he wanted to please the man, Charles wasn't quite willing to do that much, and simply maneuvered down the wall of the house as quickly as possible. For a moment, Charles was elated at the thought that they were going to go the ground route after all.

Until of course, master Kenway strolled across the wide street - one far too wide to jump across, and swiftly pulled himself up over the front of a nearby store and onto its roof. Charles ignored his disappointment and followed dutifully; this was something he had agreed to do and he was going to do it.

His resolve stayed strong as they made their way over to the building they needed, avoiding and killing guards as necessary. In fact, Charles had no trouble even as they climbed ever higher, staying within a reasonable distance of the other man. He hadn't needed to think or worry, just to keep his eyes on the handholds ahead of him and the constantly rising boots of master Kenway. Thus, he was surprised to find, quite suddenly, that they had reached the summit of the tall building.

Master Kenway crouched by the edge with care, Charles following as close as he could. He seemed to pause for a second in consideration, before crouching even more steeply and pushing out and flinging himself off the platform like a frog. Charles nearly gasped as master Kenway landed on the spire, hands outstretched to latch onto it without slipping even an inch. He lifted himself up to the window above it, before turning half around in expectation. It was Charles' turn now.

He stepped up to the edge, crouching in a mimic of what master Kenway had done. It was the moment that he looked down, at the dizzying distance to the ground that his resolve wavered. Then he looked again at the horizontal distance between him and the spire. Goodness, Charles thought weakly, it's gone and doubled in size.

It had only been a moment of hesitation so far, but already Charles' knees were weak with fear. There wasn't any way he could make this jump. He had to, though! Master Kenway would be so disappointed in him. Charles would forever be craven and unreliable in the man's eyes. Plus Charles stated that he could do this, and master Kenway would never accept people who didn't live up to their claims into his fold.

However, it was ever so high, and Charles found his body frozen in place despite the logic of his mind. He shouldn't have said he could go this way. It would have annoyed master Kenway less to take the more risky method than to have Charles chicken out. Of course, he realized this much too late, over confident as he was of his own fear tolerance.

"What is wrong, Charles?" With despair, Charles realized his time was up and he was no closer to closing that gap.

"Nothing, sir." He quickly replied. There was no way to back that up however, as Charles was still unable to force his body into motion.

"Well then, we do not have all day. I would like to break in one of the windows higher up, as the higher it is, the less likely someone will hear."

Internally, he screamed at himself to just jump. It would all be over if he could just bite the bullet and spring across the horrifyingly large space. But there wasn't any use in that, as Charles' legs stayed firmly planted.

"Sir, perhaps you could go on ahead. I would surely be in the way anyhow, as you are far more capable than I. It may be more beneficial if I went back to the entrance and picked off guards so as to make your escape easier." Charles didn't want to look at master Kenway as he spewed his excuses, embarrassed as he was. At the sound of a sigh however, Charles flinched and found the face of his leader.

"Ah, I thought this may happen. Do not be ridiculous, Charles. If you were to go back now, you would have a hard time of remaining unseen. You do not have a hidden blade, not to mention you could easily be spotted as you climb down. Just jump across."

"I am sorry, master Kenway, but I can not. I had not realized from below that this gap is too far for me to make." Charles could not prevent his head from hanging in shame. He heard the scuffing of boot against stone, hopefully master Kenway was continuing the climb alone.

"Nonsense Charles. I would not have proposed this plan as an option if I did not know you could complete it. Look up, now." He obeyed the order. Master Kenway was back on the spire. He stretched out his arm.

"Charles, when I tell you, you need to jump as far out as you possibly can. You will have to catch the spire, but I will support your body in case your grip on it is too weak."

"I couldn't put such strain on you, master Kenway! What if my weight were to pull you off as well?"

Master Kenway laughed. "Then I would not have lived up to my reputation at all. Or my heritage for that matter." He paused to stare straight into Charles' eyes. "Listen to me carefully, Charles. 'Master Kenway' may have expected Charles to do something he's incapable of doing, but that's only because he had yet to know the limits of his students. Now however, I am Haytham, and I know Charles well enough to know he is fully capable of this jump."

Charles was slightly confused by the third person act. "What do you mean, si-" Master Kenway cut him off. "No, Charles. My name is Haytham."

"I am aware of your first name sir." Charles replied without thinking. What in the world was master Kenway going with this?

"Really, must I spell it out? Call me by my first name, Charles."

"I really don't see why-"

"Charles, stop questioning me and do as I ask. Honestly, I know you aren't daft."

"I.." Charles couldn't help his own confusion and unwillingness to impolitely refer to the master Templar by something as informal as a given name. Then again, he also couldn't help but obey the will of that smooth but iron strong voice. "Alright, Haytham." He forced himself not to immediately apologize for how casual he sounded.

"Good, is that not better? We have known each other long enough for the use of first names. So you must trust me when I say that you can jump this far."

"I think you trust me a little too much, sir- I mean, Haytham." Charles guiltily looked up again to master Kenway- Haytham, he told himself.

"I know you are not the sort to hesitate, Charles. You have always been the quickest to follow and the last to question out of our little group. The only thing holding you back is your inexperience. All I ask is that you act as you always do and just follow my command. If it helps, avoid looking at the ground."

Charles finally nodded. Somehow, the first name thing did help. He always trusted master Kenway to make intelligent decisions, true. But Haytham he could trust even more. It wasn't the first time they had done this together. Maybe Haytham really did know his limits better than himself.

"Alright. On the count of three, you will jump." He counted to three. Charles crouched deeply. He felt another flash of panic, but glanced across to Haytham's eyes rather than the ground. He flexed his leg muscles as much as he could, propelling up and out into open air. The spire and Haytham's hand rushed to meet him, and Charles extended his own limbs forward at the last moment. He hit the spire like a bug to a fly swatter, instinctively wrapping his arms and legs around the cylindrical shape. The breath was knocked out of him, and he slid down a short distance, Haytham clasping his shoulder in a steel grip.

Wordlessly, Charles shimmied back into a standing position as Haytham released his shoulder, hand brushing against Charles' cheek briefly. "What did I tell you? You didn't even need my help." This time, Charles knew he wasn't able to prevent his face from flushing as he apologized profusely for his cowardice.

Haytham stopped him midway. "Shut it now, Charles, or I really will get annoyed. Do you think you're the first who I've had to convince over particularly perilous obstacles? Most Templars can't free run like I can. It's viewed as more of an assassin trait, which is a shame as the skill is amazingly useful."

"But I've failed, forcing you to encourage me and practically hold my hand!" Charles exclaimed in distress. Haytham only chuckled.

"That may be so, but from now on, you will be much quicker, correct? Still, you are right that it is not something I usually enjoy. You just take to lessons so well. Really Charles, you spoil me as a teacher, and then I am going to get especially irate with the next person who I need to force through a jump."

Charles didn't know how to take a compliment like that. "I... am sorry?" They reached the top window easily. Haytham didn't answer for a moment, delivering a blow to the window with the butt of his sword. The glass cracked, and another strategic blow shattered a hole in the window large enough for the two of them. As Haytham lowered himself through the impromptu entrance, he looked to Charles with an uncharacteristic wide grin. "Do no worry about it Charles."

"Of course. Thank you... Haytham." Charles took a chance. He didn't know if it was okay for him to continue with the first name, since it was started as a ploy to bring up Charles confidence to jump. Once he had passed the initial nervousness though, it just felt so right. His heart fluttered at the mere implied friendship given from saying "Haytham". And since the man was no doubt uninteresting in doing what Charles was interested in, friendship was the most he could hope for.

Charles nearly missed it, and almost didn't believe his eyes. Haytham's expression turned to approval, and also to something else. He was pleased. Charles' spirits leaped farther than his body had mere moments ago.

The rest of the mission went almost laughably smoothly. It was after the two walked out of the church calmly, covered in blood, that Charles finally forced off his childish, lovestruck grin. Even then, his mood carried on a great deal afterward. Even Hickey's crude behaviour and loud words couldn't faze him. Charles couldn't wait for the next mission Haytham had for him.


End file.
